What are the patents that have obtained AAA grade in
the US for the last 10 years?
A professional patent analysis service, WIPS Global
provides the patent evaluation grade features for patents registered in the US,
EP and Korea. The patent evaluation grade system is provided by the Korea
Invention Promotion Association's Patent Evaluation System, called SMART3, and
is divided into 9 types, from the highest AAA to C grade.
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| wipsglobal.com |
The patent evaluation grade is used in various ways such as IP technology finance, M&A patent due diligence, patent technology transaction, and competitor technology analysis. In this content, we would like to look at the patents that have obtained AAA evaluation among patents filed in the United States over the past 10 years.
*This report is prepared
based on the AAA graded patents which were filed in the US in the last 10 years
as of the current date.
1. Application status by year
AAA grade patents have continued to grow annually since
2010 and started showing downward trend since 2014. From 2010 to 2014, when the
4G LTE technology came out in the market, Intel, Qualcomm, and Microsoft's AAA
grade patents were filed the most, and you can see that the figures at below
graph.
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| 🔺 application status by year |
2. Current status of AAA grade retention by applicant
Qualcomm ranked 1st followed by Intel (2nd)
and Ethicon (3rd) in the graph. The top 10 companies are holding 18%
of the total AAA graded patents.
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| 🔺 current status of top tier applicants |
It’s known that Qualcomm's CDMA technology have been helped
from the Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI).
For this reason, in January 1996, Korea makes the CDMA service possible for the
first time in the world. Qualcomm is making a lot of profits from these Standard
Essential Patents. Companies using Qualcomm's technology are known to pay a
portion of their sales per terminal and system as royalties. ETRI, which contributed
a big part in the development of CDMA technology, is also receiving royalties
from Qualcomm.
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| 🔺 flickr.com ©Janitors |
Intel, the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer,
created the first microprocessor, the ‘Intel 4004’ in 1971, and later became
famous when the Intel 8088 model was installed in IBM computers. Currently, they
are manufacturing communication and computing related devices such as
motherboard chipsets, network cards, integrated circuits, flash memory,
graphics, and embedded processors.
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| 🔺 flickr.com ©Janitors |
Ethicon, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, a
leading American pharmaceutical company, has been manufacturing surgical
sutures and wound sutures since 1887. It was acquired by Johnson & Johnson
in 1947 and became a subsidiary. Since the 1990s, they have diversified the
fields of development and also developed medical and surgical instruments
products. Currently, they occupy more than 80% of the market share for surgical
sutures in the United States and sell products in about 52 countries around the
world.
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| 🔺 jnjmedicaldevices.com |
Abbvie, a famous pharmaceutical company, also ranked within
the top 10. Abbvie was founded in 2013 by spin-off from Abbott, a famous
medical device company in the United States.
Abbott manufactures a variety of medical devices,
diagnostic equipment and nutritional products, while Abbvie was split into a
research-based pharmaceutical manufacturer. Abbvie's representative products
include Humira, which is used for rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis,
Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and uveitis.
In addition to this, companies well known to us, such as Apple, Google, Facebook, and IBM, had many AAA-grade patents.
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| 🔺 current status of AAA-grade retention by applicant |
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| 🔺 Abbvie.com |
Ethicon has 679 patents of AAA grade, which is about 17.5% of the total 3,893 applications. Abbvie also has 220 AAA patents, which is about 15% of the total number of applications 1,452. Although the two companies are filing fewer patents than other top-tier companies, it can be seen that they have very high quality patents. As top companies in the fields of medicine and pharmaceuticals, I think they are very focused on R&D to prepare source technologies.
On the contrary, IBM had 205 AAA grade patents, which
is about 0.25% of their patent application. IBM has filed 80,890 patents in the
US for 10 years and not missed the number one US patent filing for 27 years.
Therefore, the proportion of AAA-grade patents is inevitably lower.
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| 🔺 interdigital.com |
InterDigital, a Non-Practicing Entity (NPE), so-called patent management company, also stands out. InterDigital, better known to us as a patent monster, was founded in 1972 and they earns profits through licensing and patent litigation. They’ve filed only 2,506 patents in the past 10 years, but about 16% of them are AAA-grade patents. Most of them are patents for the purpose of licensing and litigation, so it seems that they are paying great attention to quality. It is known that about 10% of InterDigital's patents are standard essential patents. For this reason, giant corporations such as Apple and Google have attempted mergers and acquisitions but have failed.
3. Citation status
Looking at the citation status, 90% of patents have
been cited as worth of AAA grade, and about 13,373 patents have been cited in
more than 10 documents. As for the applicants of patents cited in more than 10
documents, top companies such as Ethicon, Qualcomm, and Microsoft were
included. In addition to AT&T, the world's largest telecommunications
company, DexCom, a monopoly in the diabetes-related market, has also been listed.
It clearly shows that high-quality patents are the basic conditions for market
leaders.
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| 🔺 citation status of AAA-graded patents |
4. Application Status by IPC
You can see that the fields where many patents have
been applied are concentrated in the data processing, telecommunication
technology, and medicine.
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| 🔺 application status by IPC |
Among the AAA-grade patents, the G06F technology was the highest with 2,882 applications. G06F technology is related to electronic digital data processing. Microsoft holds the most patents with 367 cases followed by Apple 238 (patents), Google 157, and Facebook 151.
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| 🔺 Sonos.com |
Level 3 Communications is also noticeable. Level 3 Communications operates large Internet networks in cities in the United States, South America, Europe, and parts of Asia. It was once America's most influential network operator and Internet access provider. In 2017, US multinational telecommunications company CenturyLink acquired Level 3 Communications for approx. $34 billion.
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| 🔺 AAA-graded patents in the G06F technology |
The 2nd most technology is A61K with 2,088, which is related to pharmaceutical, dental or cosmetic products. Abbvie is the top ranked with 96 patents followed by Purdue Pharma 89 (patents), Genentech and Vertex Pharmaceuticals 46, and Gilead, MERCK, Bristol-Myers, Celgene are following next.
Founded in 1991, Purdue Pharma was focused on
manufacturing drugs for pain relief. Most of the pending patents also focus on
narcotic analgesics (opioids) that have a morphine-like effect. In 2007, in a
lawsuit involving OxyContin, an opioid, three executives of the Purdue Pharma were
convicted and fined.
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| 🔺 flickr.com ©Mike Licht |
Since then, negative public opinion has spread over the use of opioids in the U.S., and lawsuits including compensation for abuse of opioids continued until President Trump banned the import of opioids in September 2019. In 2019, 36 states, including Florida, Nevada, and North Carolina, fought in court with Purdue Pharma, and eventually faced a lot of damages. Purdue Pharma, incapable of paying damages, eventually filed for bankruptcy in New York in September of the same year.
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| 🔺 Gene.com |
Genentech, an American genetic engineering company, developed the first genetically engineered synthetic human insulin using Escherichia coli instead of extracting from the pancreas of animals in 1978, and began selling it as a product named “Humulin” in 1982. Since then, it has grown rapidly with the development of heart treatments and growth hormones, and in 1990 the Swiss pharmaceutical company Hoffmann Laroche acquired Genentech for $2.1 billion.
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| 🔺 Vrtx.com |
Vertex Pharmaceuticals is founded in 1989. Currently, three drugs approved by the U.S. FDA, Kalydeco, Orkambi, and Symdeko, have exclusive rights in the treatment of cystic fibrosis. These three drugs had a significant impact on sales growth in 2018 by 22%. US patents of Kalydeco and Symdeko will expire in 2027 and Orkambi's in 2030, which is expected to grow further without concerns about competition for a while.
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| 🔺 AAA-graded patents in the A61K technology |
The next is also medical field, 1,881 cases of which have been filed with A61B classified as diagnosis and surgery. Ethicon was the most overwhelmingly with 631 cases, followed by DexCom 108 cases, ConforMIS 41 cases, and DePuy Synthes 40 cases. Ethicon and DePuy Synthes are subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson, so in fact Johnson & Johnson holds the most AAA-rated patents in the field.
DePuy Synthes, established in 1895, started
manufacturing fibrous splints for the treatment of fractures, and now sells
products for reconstruction of damaged joints and skeletal damage. Johnson
& Johnson acquired the company in 1998, and since 2010, it has been known
to have suffered large and small lawsuits as problems with hip joints and jaw
implants have been discovered but it has grown to become the world's largest
company in their field with annual sales of over 10 billion dollars.
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| 🔺 Dexcom.com |
Founded in 1999, DexCom is a company that develops glucose monitoring systems for diabetes management. It has an overwhelming share of the diabetes market in the U.S. and is expanding its business to the type 2 diabetes market, which has a larger patient size than type 1. DexCom's AAA-grade patents, as well as their unique position in the relevant market, are also dominating the market with glucose measurement sensors and systems & methods for measurement data.
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| 🔺 Conformis.com |
Founded in 2004, ConforMIS is a company that researches, develops, manufactures and sells patient-specific knee (artificial knee joint) through its own platform. Looking at the AAA-grade patents that they have, most of the technologies include manufacturing customized joint implants and devices for joint surgery. In 2015, it was listed on NASDAQ with the development of joint implant manufacturing technology using 3D printers. Every year more than 600,000 knee replacement surgeries being performed in the United States, it is expected to grow further in the future.
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| 🔺 AAA-graded-patents in the A61B technology |
The fourth most filed technology field is H04W, which
is a wireless communication network related field. Intel 316 cases, Qualcomm
306 cases, and InterDigital 202 cases appear in the chart. In particular, in
the case of InterDigital, which is called NPE, about 50% of its AAA grade
patents have been filed in the H04W. As a company that has been carrying out
patent litigation and licensing with mobile related companies before, it seems
that their goal is clear.
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| 🔺 AAA-graded-patents in the H04W technology |
5. Current assignee status
Let's take a look at the current status of AAA patent
right holders.
Unlike actual filings, the company that currently holds
the most AAA-grade patents is Apple. The reason why Apple's AAA-grade patents
have increased is that they have received 306 patents from Intel. Most of the
transferred patents are about wireless communication networks, which appear to
have been transferred in 2019 when Apple signed an agreement to acquire a
majority stake in Intel's smartphone modem business.
According to the $1 billion agreement, about 2,200
employees will join Apple, and Intel said it plans to continue developing
modems in areas such as PCs, IoT devices, and autonomous vehicles other than
smartphones.
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| 🔺 flickr.com ©Tech.co |
Currently, Dolby stands out as the top company with AAA grade patents. Dolby, well known to us as a sound company, was founded in the UK in 1965 and is now headquartered in the United States. Starting with technology for removing noise from audio tapes, it is currently being serviced in a variety of fields, including multi-channel audio formats for theater screenings, TVs, mobile devices and PCs.
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| 🔺 application of AAA-graded-patents v current assignee |
As we have seen above, we can see that companies with many high-rated patents are playing market leaders in their field. The more high-quality patents they have, the greater their influence will be. In order to occupy an advantageous position in the ever-increasing disputes such as patent litigation, or to secure better economic value through technology, the best way to secure better economic value is to create 'high quality patents', so companies also continue to endeavor to research and develop for it.
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